Developing a Family Schedule

Developing a Family Schedule

Now that I have seven precious children, scheduling is more important than ever! Scripture says in Psalm 103: 15-16:

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it and it is gone and its place knows it no more.

Every moment counts towards the building of the kingdom of God, but there are so many mundane things, inconsequential things, seemingly unimportant things to be done! How do we ever get to the meat and potatoes of life if we get stuck in the side dishes? How does a person ever do the important if they can’t get past the spilled milk, dirty diapers, and meal preparation?

I was about to deliver my fourth child and was meeting with a group of women as part of a mother’s ministry we organized. As we left, I walked out with Shannon, a dear friend of mine, and in desperation told her my fears about running the household with another little one coming! She told me about a website called FLYLady.com which blessed me greatly and really transformed my approach to homemaking. Sometime after I delivered our fourth precious daughter, I heard about Managers of Their Homes, a series of manuals with lots of great structure for setting up life for large families. These 2 blessings along with the Simply Charlotte Mason Online Scheduler truly shaped me into a semi-organized person which is essential for life in the big family world.

Grand projects my husband and I to desire accomplish,

Character traits we want to see in the kids

Habits we want to form….

All these need to be prayed over, prioritized, and scheduled or they won’t happen. This is a daunting process to say the least! We begin with simple objectives or principles for everyone….not goals, mind you, but what the end product is in our vision. You don’t even have to write these down if your will is strong enough to pursue them. I have given examples for myself.

Cast off idols in my life….Evangelize and disciple others….Manifest a mother culture….Form the Habit of forming Habits in Children as a Science….Practice healthful living

Next is to list all the things each person does each day. Are the activities matching the objectives? If not, then change your activities or change how you do the activities. If an objective for a child states that they will learn to be diligent, but their activities consist of playtime and TV watching, where will they learn this diligence? In essence, the activities become my goals for the objectives I want to accomplish. Below I have our family’s activities for a typical Monday.

Most of what I get done may seem monotonous and pointless but when I keep my objectives in mind, I get to the “meat and potatoes” of what I want to accomplish.